---
title: They really had me worried...for a few days! [Rhee says Korea will go it alone if truce is signed]
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-they-really-had-me-worried-war-truce-1953/
description: A bearded, helmeted figure in armour marked 'WAR' wipes his brow with a cloth and says 'They really had me worried ...for a few days!'.
section: Collection
---

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3. They really had me worried...for a few days! [Rhee says Korea will go

[![They really had me worried...for a few days! \[Rhee says Korea will go it alone if truce is signed\], 1953 US cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-they-really-had-me-worried-war-truce-1953.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/berryman-they-really-had-me-worried-war-truce-1953.jpg)

# They really had me worried...for a few days! [Rhee says Korea will go it alone if truce is signed]

A bearded, helmeted figure in armour marked 'WAR' wipes his brow with a cloth and says 'They really had me worried ...for a few days!', while a paper on the table reads 'Rhee says Korea will "go it alone" if truce is signed!'. The cartoon argues that South Korean President Syngman Rhee's threat to continue the war alone is a boost to the prospect of continued war; the technique tell is personification of war as a relieved character, a weak fear-appeal.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
THEY REALLY HAD ME WORRIED
...FOR A FEW DAYS!
WAR
RHEE SAYS KOREA WILL "GO IT ALONE" IF TRUCE IS SIGNED!
[signature: Jim Berryman]
```

[← Ceiling Zero](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berryman-ceiling-zero-1953/) [We Serve the People (English poster distributed in Asia) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/we-serve-the-people-english-1953/)

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- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
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- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
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- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)